Over the following months we will share our 10 steps to making sure you are on the right track for a successful online marketing strategy. It will include 10 topics that will give you better insight on how to build your online strategy. We will discuss websites, social media marketing, SEO, Google AdWords, and more.

In this article we will start with what you need to consider when registering a domain for your website.

Firstly you need choose the right domain. But how do you that? What is considered the right domain?

Building a website is more involved than most people wish to believe. Choosing the right domain is essential for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). When you choose a domain for your business most people tend to choose the name of the business. But consider this, how many people will type in the exact name of your business to find your products or services? If you have a new business, no one knows about your business so they are not searching for it by its name. They need to find your business by the services or products that you offer. When people search for a product or service, they type in a word or a phrase. In other words, they search by using a specific keyword.

You need to decide the most important keyword for your business.

Incorporate that keyword in the domain name.

For example, if your business is called: Epique Weddings and Events, and the main business is planning events, you may consider the registering a domain that has the words planning events in it. If your domain name will be too long then rather book two domains, the domain name with the most important keyword will be the main domain where the site is hosted, a second shorter domain can be used for emails and marketing and this will redirect to the main domain.

What is the difference between .com and .co.za?

If you are based in South Africa, having a .co.za domain will be beneficial to search engines’ location settings. A person in SA will find more localised websites based on their domain extensions.

A.com website is more American and internationally based. So people searching for your products or services may dismiss your website because they may think that your business is not near to them.

Before you build a website, take the time to decide on the best domain name for your business. Check out our hosting reviews.